Belen yard has lots of traffic: over 100 trains/day. Best watching spot for the comings and goings plus a fair amount of switching is at the Harvey House Museum at the 'West' end of the yard (that is actually geographic North). There is adequate parking on the South side of the building. Unlike most other trainwatching places, there are wooden seats and tables for your 'stuff' under a portico next to the tracks, sheltered from sun and weather. A small souvenir shop and restrooms are open Tuesday thru Saturday 12:30 - 4:00. For lunch or dinner, try the excellent New Mexican food at Pete's directly across the street.
You can find mainline action nearby at Rio Puerco and Dalies, both West of Los Lunas between Albuquerque and Belen on Route 6. Dalies is reached by a dirt road just East of the bridge over the tracks. Further West, there is a grade crossing a bit West of the Rio Puerco bridge where BNSF owns a fenced storage yard.
Stay safe – that means stay well away from BNSF property! They are VERY safety conscious and are cracking down on trespassers.
Super-C (8-26-2015): ‘The Day the Earth Stood Still’
‘The Day the Earth Stood Still’ was a cool black & white movie in the mid-20th century. I saw it as a kid. The scene of everything mechanical on earth standing still was eerie. About four months ago I traveled through some of the area you posted about, and it was almost like the movie, everything standing still. A couple of hundred miles east and west of the Belen area nothing was moving. Well, almost nothing. The best that I can determine is that what was seen was a fluke, as everybody says the southwestern Transcon is THE place to watch trains.
Photos:
West of Belen, at Rio Puerco Road, an eastbound stopped account of a red CP signal, red over red for no apparent reason. Maybe the DS went downstairs for a Coke. Finally, it got a green signal and took off. As you known, Super-C, that location is where the old westbound and eastbound tracks separated in Automatic Block Signal days, now it is all CTC.
East of Belen, at New Mexico Highway 47, the track wide centers is what caught my eye. Looking westbound:
Eastbound:
Those trains in the just above photo were stopped. Did the earth standing still happen all over again?
That grade crossing had a new type of grade crossing box, not seen before by this Southern Californian.
Anyway, cool area. Thanks for starting this thread, Super-C. Others unfamiliar with the Belen area that visit certainly will have an enjoyable time, except by change the earth stands still when they visit …
Take care,
K.P.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- K.P.’s absolute “theorem” from early, early childhood that he has seen over and over and over again: Those that CAUSE a problem in the first place will act the most violently if questioned or exposed.
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